The Dissident Dad – Tyranny Reigns on July 4th, 2016

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

– Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776

Yesterday, the nation commemorated Independence Day. A celebration of freedom and the concept that all men are equal, with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Looking back at history, it’s clear that this was never really true in North America. Not while the colonies lived under Great Britain, and certainly not since the Americans won the Revolutionary War.

Slavery, taxes, and many other government-sponsored aggressions have hindered sovereign individuals from pursuing their unalienable rights since the founding of the nation. Government power continues to be a very real problem, and the larger governments grow, the more abusive they seem to become. In modern America, the tyranny is extremely efficient and subtle when compared to other governments in history.

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Preparing Our Kids for the Future

I heartily accept the motto, — “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, — “That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. 

– Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience 

I don’t think we can stand around any longer and just send our kids off to school and hope it will all work out. Globalization and tremendous advancements in technology have led to fundamental changes, which in my opinion, have left traditional public schooling in the dark ages.

Assembly line education is simply not working out for young people any longer, and ironically, many of these kids are so ignorant they actually think their problem is that they need even more “education.” In reality, the dumbing down of their minds with indoctrination and a focus on political correctness has made them grossly unprepared for life outside the sheltered cocoon of formal schooling.

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The Dissident Dad – “Death”

“Bodie is getting dead.”

Those were the words out of my 4-year-old’s mouth as the vet was on her way to our house to put down our 15-year-old German Shepard.

While this event was traumatic enough, within 12 hours, my children came face to face with yet another death.  We noticed buzzards circling in the backyard, and when the kids went to see what had happened, the only thing left was a cat’s tail. 10-month-old kitten Queen Elsa was dead.

Due to these two events, the last 24 hours has been a pretty sad period over at the Ameduri home, with the topic of death front and center. As far as the dog, the kids asked a dozen times why we didn’t just let Bodie pass — why did the vet have to give him a shot? We explained that it was the humane thing to do, and that by doing so we helped our dog avoid the pain of not being able to walk, use the restroom, and potentially even starvation due to a loss of appetite.

It’s funny, I’ve never given much thought about the right to death debate, but as I was explaining why it was humane to kill our dog, I couldn’t help but think about why it wouldn’t be just as humane to allow a person to do the same if they so desired. While I’m not going to open up that can of worms, I started to appreciate the notion that individuals should have the freedom to chose how they want to end their own lives.

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Why I’m Buying a Christmas Tree, Even Though I Hate Christmas

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Christmas and I have some bad blood. No, I don’t hate baby Jesus, or harbor a contempt for Christians. Indeed, I consider myself to be a follower of Christ-like principals. As a self-described anarchist, loving people and doing no harm fits right in at my home.

Growing up as a child in a middle-class home where my dad worked 12-hour days and my mom clipped coupons, I remember all the great things about Christmas. Stockings full of toys hanging over the fireplace, waking up in the morning to presents under the tree followed by a large family gathering later that afternoon. I never received the big gifts some of my friends did, but I was still happy, receiving more than enough, as well as the occasional video game for my Nintendo.

It wasn’t until after my parents were divorced that Christmas and I had a falling out, to the point where as an adult, I didn’t buy a tree until my oldest child turned 5 (last year). Even then, it was in protest.

At 12 years of age, I watched as my mother struggle to buy gifts. After the divorce, my mom lived in a mobile home in Southern California, and every year, I watched her do everything she could to live up to the idea of a “middle-class” Christmas. It wasn’t until then that I realized the damage being done to the poor and lower middle classes during this holiday. The irony, of course, is that the historical Jesus was a man who sought to help the poor, so it was frustrating that the holiday designated to celebrate his birth had become an absolute nightmare to anyone who wasn’t either rich or middle-class.

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The Dissident Dad – “But Why Can’t We Do Those Things….”

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I thought we were free to choose, Dad. Why can’t we do those things? Also, Mom is forcing me to read. Please talk to her about not forcing people to do things

— The Dissident Dad’s Son

Oh, the irony. All I want to do is be the freedom dad. To raise a family that is a beacon for liberty, grounded on principles of non-aggression, cooperation, and respecting individual sovereignty.

But the truth is, what I face as a parent day in and day out is extremely difficult. It’s not just the statists and their incessant propaganda, it’s also the dereliction of duty by many modern-day parents.

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A HomeSchool Parent Confronts “Back-to-School Week”

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Maybe it’s just me, but all this back-to-school talk is a little awkward ever since we decided to homeschool our children.

With one of our children old enough to officially start kindergarten this year, I have recognized that the awkwardness emanates from my own insecurities. I feel like I’m weird, or that other people will assume my children will have a disadvantage in life. There’s this perception that I’m denying them social interaction, which I am definitely not.

For example, my wife recently joined a few homeschool groups in our area. In the past 3 weeks alone they have gone on field trips, met for swimming lessons, participated in group learning, and enjoyed play time.

I remember going to one field trip a year when I went to public school. My son, who is in kindergarten, has already been to three. He saw how donuts were made at Krispy Kreme, how vehicles are assembled at a Toyota plant, and he went to a real bee farm followed up with a trip to the local honey manufacturer. By the way, what a disgusting thing it is to learn that sweet yummy honey is bee puke.

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The Dissident Dad – Humanity Washed Ashore

Everyday, I help my children get dressed. Our 1 year old baby loves having her shoes put on, my 3 year old daughter is obsessed with princess dresses, and my 5 year old, who dresses himself, can be most often seen wearing a red Lighting McQueen shirt.

I look into their faces, and I see so much happiness and joy. I don’t even need to do or say anything, just look into their eyes, and my children smile back radiantly.

Despite all our advancements as a species, our iDevices, the internet of everything, travel, and the ability to deliver fresh produce around the world, humanity still suffers from unspeakable horrors due to an inability to see ourselves within our fellow humans. We are so obsessed with our own needs, our own egos, and our tribalism to understand we are all in this together. Through all the suffering, we continue to go about our lives, forgetting about the pain happening to so many of our brothers and sisters.

Although I am well aware of the realities of the world we live in, and despair about much of it often, something I saw this past week really hit home for me. A photo of a small toddler washed ashore recently brought me to uncontrollable tears.

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The Dissident Dad – Teaching Children to Save in a 0% World

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At the age of 5, I clearly remember walking into my local Bank of America to open up my first savings account. It was almost a thrill, receiving my small, beige deposit book, where my father noted the first entry: $260.

I had found a wallet on the floor of a hotel about 6 months prior to that. After no one claimed it, the hotel mailed me a check. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always had an interest in finance, but opening up that first savings account is one of my earliest memories. It ended up helping me to become a disciplined saver from an early age.

Moving along, in the late 1990s, I remember opening up a 1-year CD at 6% when I was barely an adult. Looking back, depositing money at a bank made sense at the time. Fast forward to today, and I don’t think teaching my children to store their money in a bank is prudent, or even a smart thing to do.

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The Dissident Dad – Our Family Manifesto

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I live in Texas, I pay taxes to the IRS, and I follow every law required of me. I am not looking for any trouble from the U.S. government. That said, my family and I have elected to sever ourselves from the cancerous monster that is Washington D.C. every chance we get.

We don’t vote or honor the state in anything we do. My money is completely outside of the U.S. banking system, via precious metals, digital currency, and whole life insurance contracts, which is nothing more than two private parties in a financial agreement. The stocks I own are in Canada or international businesses listed here in the U.S.

I wish the U.S. and its citizens the very best, but when it comes to the statists and banking elite — who ultimately form an oligarchy — I try to ignore and resist the beast in every way I can.

Over the past few months, I have felt in my heart the need to openly state exactly what mom and dad believe and what we desire for our family. These are just some basic principles. It’s not like a cult, religion, or government pledge, but more like a private business with a mission statement and declaration. My fear as a father is that without some sort of a family declaration, the dark fruits of the empire may become appealing, since as the kids age, they will come under an enormous amount of peer pressure to accept the statist mindset.

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The Dissident Dad – My Personal Mission as a Father

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I put personal mission in the title of this post, because I think every parent needs to answer this question on their own and create their own definition of whatever their objective is.

It’s easy to get into the rut of earning a living, raising a family, retiring, and then dying. Today, child raising is largely left to the state, corporate America and other kids. We live in a two-parent workforce, with an enormous pressure to send our kids to government-run schools. Children are now watching 35 hours of TV per week, and that’s not including 10 hours on iDevices (see: The Dissident Dad – No TV for You!).

Unless you think deeply about your intentions as a parent, you can pretty much just go through the whole experience by going through the motions, since the majority of parents simply mimic one another. Today, parenting style is often pretty much just on auto-pilot.

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